Good Accounting Software?

OneTwoFiftieth

So, we are looking for something to keep track of clients, our income and payments, we want to make invoices and estimates. We do not have an inventory.

I think something like quick books would be great, but I don't need any of the inventory tracking stuff...

We use a Mac.

Anyone have any ideas on something maybe cheaper than quick books for mac but still has a lot of the features minus the inventory stuff?

Thanks!

entropysedge

you could try Quicken.

dubaifor

I love Ibank for accounting, can´t do the other things such as track of clients etc... though

Snowgirl

I also use a Mac and picked up Moneyworks. It's good.

chrisjohnson

I am actually moving to Excel (or maybe the Mac Iworks equivalent).

I never found an integrated package that would print my invoice the way I want, so I have that in Word.

My accountant prefers to do the quarterly sales tax manually by reading the paperwork.

I am also using an accountant for my end-of-year and they use use their own package. I don't want to license it and then do all the data entry myself - it is too fiddly and too expensive. They are ok when I deliver all my stuff in an old shoe box and then pay minimum wage to someone to type it into their system.

The invoices I keep track of monthly by comparing my bank statements with printed copies and ticking when paid.

For tracking costs I will use Excel v bank statements which cuts down the work my accountant has to do (saves money) and keeps me in touch with profit/loss. They cannot charge me twice for reconciling the paper work. All you need to do is number received invoices sequentially by hand which is a trivial exercise when you anyway stick them in a binder (no I do not actually use an old shoe box).

If you really want to automate everything then I would tie in with my Accountant. This is where you can make savings.

Keep it simple is my advice, unless you like filling in forms on computers.

ColoradoSkier

I use Excel for pricing and quotes, I use QuickbooksOnline.com for the actual accounting.

shewholaughs

I have a similar conundrum. I work in photography as a side business. I know enough accounting terms to be really dangerous. In essence, I need to to do true "job-costing" accrual accounting. Here's my reasoning: Mostly I shoot weddings. Chances are strong that I could receive a deposit 6 months - 1 year ahead of the shoot. Now, all of my expenses are generally incurred right around the time of the shoot, or in the album creation after the shoot. I want to recognize my revenue (deposits) against the expenses around the shoot. This is the accrual part. I've been using cash accounting but I think I've screwed up the taxes part. Regardless, i also want to track the amount of hours I spend in photoshop/bridge/album creators to find out if I'm selling myself short or am making a killing. Also, I'm not interested in data entry and so it must download straight from my bank.
I'm told (by sales people) that quickbooks desktop will do this... but I'm cheap. Is there any software out there that would do the trick without spending $250? Thoughts?

Photogbiker

Not a pro so my advice is from other self employed pursuits, but I recommend Quickbooks. Can track all expenses and clients/vendors. Reasonably customizable, just use the basic software but create your own categories for tracking. Online version is pretty slick too.

--Shewholaughs--I would consult an accountant about the logic of a job costing/accrual type system. This is typical for contractors (like me), but less so in other businesses. If you are a LLC or S corp this can be real hassle when deposit/shoot crosses over calendar years. You then have to track all jobs and post a % complete quarterly. The amounts are not that large so there is no real tax advantage, just go with cash and the few jobs where you have a deposit at end of year but shoot expenses haven't been incurred will balance out over the years. Again, talk with a CPA and get the real expert's advice.

shewholaughs

Hmm... I should check with actual professional bean counters. That's for sure. I use Quicken for my personal accounts so I'm hoping Quickbooks won't be that tough to learn. Thanks for the advice about an LLC and the pain of % complete jobs. I hadn't considered that.

Thanks again!

Photogbiker wrote: »

Not a pro so my advice is from other self employed pursuits, but I recommend Quickbooks. Can track all expenses and clients/vendors. Reasonably customizable, just use the basic software but create your own categories for tracking. Online version is pretty slick too.

--Shewholaughs--I would consult an accountant about the logic of a job costing/accrual type system. This is typical for contractors (like me), but less so in other businesses. If you are a LLC or S corp this can be real hassle when deposit/shoot crosses over calendar years. You then have to track all jobs and post a % complete quarterly. The amounts are not that large so there is no real tax advantage, just go with cash and the few jobs where you have a deposit at end of year but shoot expenses haven't been incurred will balance out over the years. Again, talk with a CPA and get the real expert's advice.

rockingcpa

OneTwoFiftieth wrote: »

So, we are looking for something to keep track of clients, our income and payments, we want to make invoices and estimates. We do not have an inventory.

I think something like quick books would be great, but I don't need any of the inventory tracking stuff...

We use a Mac.

Anyone have any ideas on something maybe cheaper than quick books for mac but still has a lot of the features minus the inventory stuff?

Thanks!

Just buy QuickBooks for Mac 2011. QB is to accounting, what PS is for photographers & graphic designers. You can get help and support from just about any accountant when you have QuickBooks (NOT Quicken). QB for Mac 2011 is stable and now multi-user. Don't cheap out...it's only about $170. My "day gig" is I'm a CPA. Trust me, you don't want to trust your accounting to anything but QuickBooks. The only down side to any accounting software on the Mac is, unlike ME, most accountants do not use Macs. I use Macs AND PCs all day and I would dump my PC in a heartbeat, if I didn't need to support my clients on QB for Windows and for my pro tax prep and payroll software.

One thing to keep in mind. Image is important. You don't want to come off to your clients as an unsophisticated business person. You want to give the appearance that you've got it together and you are a true professional in EVERY aspect of your business. How much can you possibly save when the entire program is less than $200. It's not like the cost of buying the highest end Adobe product. Just get QuickBooks. You won't be sorry.